Gulf War veteran convicted of quadruple murder

SHALIMAR -- A Persian Gulf War veteran was convicted of four counts of first degree murder Thursday in the shotgun deaths of his girlfriend and her three children.

Jeffrey Hutchinson, a former Army Ranger, stood impassively with his attorneys as the verdict was read after more than two hours of deliberation.

Circuit Judge G. Robert Barron instructed the jury to return next Thursday for the penalty phase of the trial. The jurors will recommend either life without parole or death.

Hutchinson comforted and handed tissues to Kimberly Cobb, a co-counsel and wife of lead defense attorney Stephen Cobb, as she dabbed tears from her eyes after the verdict was read.

Hutchinson refused to testify during the trial and rejected his lawyers' advice to present an insanity defense, insisting two men wearing ski masks broke into the house and killed the victims.

Renee Flaherty and her children, Geoffrey, 9; Amanda, 7; and Logan, 4, were killed on Sept. 11, 1998 in the Crestview area home where they lived with Hutchinson.

Prosecutors said the killings were prompted by an argument between Hutchinson and Flaherty.

During closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Robert Elmore repeatedly cocked and pulled the trigger of a pump-action, pistol-grip shotgun as he said Hutchinson was the killer.

Hutchinson silently shook his head ''no.''

Elmore contended the killings were premeditated because the shooter had plenty of time to make a conscious decision to kill. He said the design of the gun itself provided some of that time.

''It will not cock itself, it will not fire itself,'' Elmore said, punctuating his statement with a loud click-click by cocking the unloaded weapon. ''He could have stopped at any point up to the time her blew Renee Flaherty's brain out of her head.''

Stephen Cobb argued the prosecution failed to prove Hutchinson was the shooter, but he also contended his client was too drunk to make a conscious decision to kill.

''This case is really built on rumor, hearsay and popular opinion,'' Cobb said.

A blood test showed Hutchinson had a .17 percent blood-alcohol level, nearly twice the .08 percent legal limit for driving, after he arrived at the Okaloosa County Jail. An expert witness testified it could have been as high as .26 percent at the time of the killings several hours earlier.

Sheriff's deputies and others who saw Hutchinson after the killings, however, said he did not appear to be intoxicated, neither slurring his speech nor staggering when he walked.

Elmore replayed a 911 tape of a man at the murder scene saying ''I just shot my family.'' Two of Hutchinson's friends testified it was his voice and officers said they found a cordless phone, with the line still open to 911, within inches of Hutchinson's head when they found him laying on the garage floor.

A crime laboratory analyst testified that DNA tests showed Hutchinson had the blood of Renee and Geoffrey Flaherty on his clothing and skin. Tests showed he also had gunpowder residue on his hands.

The Flaherty family and Hutchinson moved to the Florida Panhandle together from the Spokane, Wash., about a year before the killings. She was estranged from her husband, Geoff Flaherty, who lives in Anchorage, Alaska.

Hutchinson had rejected his lawyers' advice to present an insanity defense, insisting two men wearing ski masks broke into the house and killed the victims. Elmore said there was no evidence anyone else was there.

A psychiatrist had diagnosed Hutchinson about two years before the killings as suffering from a mental disorder that he linked to the former soldier's service in the Persian Gulf or elsewhere while in the Army. That issue could be a factor during the penalty phase of the trial.